Tara rolled over in bed to answer her cell phone's pleading beeps and tones. It was a string of text messages from her best friend, Renee. Renee was slightly losing her cool, in these final hours before her wedding. She wasn't second guessing her decision to marry Matthew, a man she had met while out of town in Colorado, she was just letting all the hyperactivity of the occasion get to her. This kind of pre-wedding stress happens to brides all the time. But then, there was also the tremendous amount of stress Tara had put on herself, by volunteering to coordinate her best friend's out of state wedding.

 

Rising from her comfortable hotel room bed, Tara lengthened her body like a cat and let out a nice long stretch. She ran a hand through her long, black hair and walked over to the window to open the room's curtains. It was late summer in Denver Colorado, and the view from her hotel window was nothing short of magnificent. The sun was already peeking out from behind the Rocky Mountains, and the brilliant hues of red and orange leaves on the trees gave the landscape a beautiful luminescent glow. Tara greatly appreciated the majestic beauty of the mountains, but being a lover of the water, the lack of ocean was making her miss her home in San Jose, California. Even with the amount of fascinating traveling she had to do for her job, Tara knew that no other place would be home to her like California would.

 

When Tara and Renee first met in San Jose California, they had just been two young college girls who went out on the town several nights a week, and as many college girls do, they shared many intimate conversations with one another about their lives. Renee knew that Tara was a lesbian, and Renee herself was bisexual. Tara was always the "chick magnet", always having some hot sappho to hang with, while Renee enjoyed her time dating both men and women. Both of them had demanding school and work schedules so neither Tara or Renee had ever desired to be tied down in a serious relationship. Then, after graduating college, both women landed demanding jobs that required lots of travel and long hours. Tara was enjoying a successful career while still enjoying "playing the field" with the ladies, but when Renee met Matthew after one particular business trip to Colorado, Tara knew their relationship was the real deal for her best friend. After all, Renee and Matthew had been together an entire year, and it wasn't an easy year since they were dating long distance. Tara was seeing less and less of her best friend, but she was genuinely happy for her. Still, when Renee finally decided to give up her San Jose apartment to move to Denver and be with Matthew, it devastated Tara.